Although black and Hispanic women comprised 6 percent of Rhode Island’s 1990 population, they represented more than 17 percent of victims in police reports documenting domestic violence and sexual assault, according to a Brown University study published in the journal Public Health Reports.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Black and Hispanic women, especially
black women in more affluent neighborhoods, are over-represented in
police-reported domestic violence information compiled by the Rhode Island
Department of Health, according to a new analysis published in the journal
Public Health Reports.

Four Brown University researchers found that although black and Hispanic
women comprised 6 percent of the state's 1990 population, they represented more
than 17 percent of victims in police reports documenting domestic violence and
sexual assault.

The study authors say that black and Hispanic women are not more prone to
domestic violence in the Ocean State. Instead, the findings may reflect a point
of entry difference among women. The federal government has funded a handful of
states to establish domestic violence surveillance systems since the 1990s, but
Rhode Island is the only state with a system largely centered on police
reports.

This is one of the first studies based on a state reporting system for
domestic violence. Other states rely on court reports or medical documents or a
blend of both, said co-author Wendy Verhoek-Oftedahl, an assistant professor of
community health who helped develop the surveillance program in Rhode Island.
“These states have not reported whether there are racial differences in
domestic violence risk when the point of entry for help is the courts or
hospital emergency rooms.”

The Brown study looked at whether the risk of police-reported domestic
violence varied in relation to a woman's race and neighborhood conditions. The
researchers linked data from Rhode Island's surveillance system with 1990 census
information at the block group level (average population 1,000).

The study found that white and Hispanic women were less likely to make a
domestic violence report to police as neighborhoods became less impoverished and
levels of poverty dropped. However, “black women were as likely to contact
police to report domestic violence in poor as in more-affluent
neighborhoods,” said lead author Deborah Pearlman, assistant professor of
community health.

“We think that white and Hispanic women may take advantage of or have
different options for domestic violence interventions,” Pearlman said.
“This may include contacting a private physician, having more direct
access to a lawyer or the courts, or relying on social support from family and
neighbors.” But this study could not confirm that hypothesis, she
said.

The findings of a higher number of black women reporting to police builds on
previous research that showed an increased likelihood that police will make an
arrest if the victim and perpetrator are black, note the authors, who
acknowledge that the findings for black women are complex.

“Race acts as a proxy for discrimination and for the restriction of
resources,” said Pearlman. “At every level of income, blacks do not
do as well as whites and Hispanics. In the U.S. there is a skin color hierarchy
that affects education, disposable income, wealth, assets, stability of
employment, and health across the life course, even for blacks living in
neighborhoods with similar socioeconomic characteristics as whites.”

Author Sally Zierler, professor of community health, said, “Is
accessing police, regardless of socioeconomic well-being, the best route for
black women in reporting domestic violence, who may be lacking alternative
support?”

In terms of racial position in society, black women are the least valued
socially and economically, said Zierler. “Something about racial
positioning also puts black women at worse danger in their homes than white
women. There is a loss of dignity for black men as a result of racial
discrimination. The more disintegrating one’s own context, the fewer
places there are to express anger.”

The authors hope that “any woman who experiences domestic violence is
not missed by the network of help that is available. We want women in all
communities, poor and affluent, to know about resources such as hotlines, safe
houses, and restraining orders, and that police will come and help,” they
said.

“You don't want any woman falling through the cracks,” said
Verhoek-Oftedahl. “States looking to set up their own domestic violence
surveillance programs must include education programs about domestic violence
and about ways to protect oneself, whether that protection comes from police, or
through victim services agencies, courts or hospitals. In Rhode Island, as in
other states, women can obtain restraining orders without police assistance.
This is an important point, as women not wishing police intervention can still
receive this protection.”

The study’s other author was PhD graduate student Annie Gjelsvik.
Grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention funded the research.